‘The Desert Speaks’ receives challenge grant

Special to the Green Valley News

TUCSON — KUAT Communications Group received a $90,000 challenge grant from The Stonewall Foundation for production support of the Emmy-award-winning program, The Desert Speaks. The Stonewall Foundation has been supportive to KUAT in the past, but this is the first time they have allowed the station to use the Foundation’s name in promotional materials to attract support from other foundations and individuals.

Jack Gibson, general manager of KUAT, said, “We are profoundly grateful for this grant which helps ensure the future of The Desert Speaks. We hope the generosity and high profile of The Stonewall Foundation will serve as an example and help in our efforts to recruit other foundations and individuals to join in support of the series.”

The Desert Speaks is currently in its 17th season and production has begun for Season 18 which premieres in 2008. In each program, host David Yetman sets off on a round of intrepid exploration and makes surprising discoveries all along the way. The series’ hallmarks are its stunning images and intriguing stories about the plants, animals, geology, people and history of desert regions near and far.

President of The Stonewall Foundation, Rick Small, says, “I am pleased to offer this grant to KUAT for support of The Desert Speaks and I hope others step forward to join us.”

The Desert Speaks is videotaped in high definition. Offered to public television stations across the country, it can be seen by 80% of all U.S. households. It is also shown nationally and internationally on Discovery HD. The program has won multiple regional and national awards, including 24 Emmy Awards.

Gibson said, “Our mission at the KUAT Communications Group is to ‘inform, inspire and connect our community by bringing people and ideas together’ and one of the best ways we can fulfill this mission is by producing original programs.”

Past grants from The Stonewall Foundation have been an important part of The Desert Speaks’ success as well as with KUAT’s federally mandated digital conversion. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum serves as production partner of The Desert Speaks, and American Public Television distributes the series nationally. Major production funding, in addition to that from The Stonewall Foundation, is also provided by Desert Program Partners, representing concerned viewers making a financial commitment to the education about and preservation of deserts.

The Desert Speaks airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on KUAT Channel 6.